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I call this Germanbasa because it’s a yummy dish made with kielbasa that’s inspired by German cooking. I love kielbasa but it always seems like I used it the same way every time so I thought this go round I might branch out and try something a bit different. While I wouldn’t put this meal on my “last supper” list, it was tasty and everyone in the family ate without complaining, so I have to give it some props. So here we go. What you’ll need:

Melt 1 of your Tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat and cook the mushrooms until moist; about 3-4 minutes. Add in the beer, water, mushroom base, onions, and sausage. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer covered for about 25 minutes. Remove the sausage and onion/mushroom/beer mixture from the skillet. Cut the sausage into 1 inch disks and set aside. In your skillet, melt the remaining 2 Tbsp of butter over medium heat and then add in the flour, stirring to create a roux. Let the roux cook for about 3-4 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, sugar, and reserved onion/mushroom/beer mixture. Add parsley and season with salt and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce heat, simmering until sauce thickens; about 10 minutes. Add your sliced sausage back into the mix and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Serve over rice or potatoes. And that’s it! Here’s a picture of the final product:

Pork Schnitzel that is. And boy was it yummo. This is a simple, delicious dinner that everyone will love. I know I sound like a broken record when I say that, but with three small boys, believe me, you need to get creative with food in order to get them to try new things. Nick, my oldest, loves a simple, sauce free meat dish any day of the week, so this one’s for him. Here’s what you’ll need:

Ok, so the best part about this meal is the first step. Grab your meat mallet and pound those morsels down to a thickness of 1/4″ to 1/8″ thick. I don’t know about you, but after a long day with the kids, breaking up fights, changing diapers, dealing with obnoxious customer service reps and the like, nothing feels more cathartic than taking a mallet to some meat. And yes, that’s one of my little munchkins flying by the camera in the background there. Got a love an active kitchen. Here’s what your pounded meat should look like. The pile is the before and the laid out meat is the after. I realize it’s not the best shot, but trust me that I pounded it plenty and enjoyed every last minute of it.

Heat up 2 Tbsp of the butter and 4 Tbsp of the oil on medium high heat in a large skillet. Next you want to make up three shallow dishes. One will have your flour and pepper, one will have your beaten egg, and one will have your bread crumbs. Dip a piece of pork in flour, then egg, then bread crumbs. Place in your skillet and cook for 2-3 minutes on each side or until cooked through and golden brown. You will most likely have to go in batches to cook all your pork. It took me about 4 batches and I switched out the butter and oil for fresh butter and oil (the other 2 Tbsp butter and 4 Tbsp oil called for in the recipe) about halfway through to keep it from burning and transferring to my pork. When finished, serve it with a slice of lemon and voila! An easy, super yummy dinner everyone will enjoy. I served this with buttered broccoli and a little something I came up with on my own that I entitled potato smashup because it’s a combo of white potatoes and sweet potatoes with a bunch of extra yummy mixin’s. Look for that one to be posted soon!

But honestly, how could you be blue when you’re eating these tasty little morsels? We don’t eat red meat in this house, something about cows eating corn that just really turns me off, so turkey is the king when it comes to foods involving what should have been ground beef. Ok, here’s what you’ll need:

Mix together turkey, soy sauce, onion, mushrooms, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Form Turkey mixture into four bun sized patties. Place in large skillet and cook on medium high heat flipping once until cooked through; about 9-11 minutes depending on thickness. Turn heat down to medium and add one small handful of blue cheese to the top of each burger. Cover skillet and let sit until cheese is melting; about 3-5 minutes. Place cooked pattie on a bun and enjoy! I love these just plain with ketchup, but they’re also killer with some tomato and avocado slapped on top.

Now, on to the home fries. No burger is complete without them. Am I right? Here’s what you’ll need:

2 large baking potatoes

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp onion powder

salt to taste

I just want to note that I leave the skin on my potatoes; vitamins and such. But if you prefer your skin removed, go ahead and get rid of it now. Next, slice your potatoes into wedges. Combine the olive oil, paprika, garlic powder, chili powder and onion powder in a gallon sized ziploc (or whatever else you have on hand that can effectively coat fries). Now throw your wedges into the bag and coat those beauties up. Dump your contents onto a large jelly roll pan and spread them out in a single layer. Pop them in the oven at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, being sure to turn the fries once. When they’re good and golden, pull them out and season with salt. Yummy!

And as long as I’m on a roll, I might as well include a tomato cucumber salad so we can say we had a veggie and make this meal complete. This salad is so easy and really delightful. My two older kids beg to have this with dinner every night! Check it out:

1 cucumber chopped into slices and then halved

8 oz of cherry tomatoes sliced in half

1/2 small onion diced

1 lemon juiced

2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Place your cucumbers, onions, and cherry tomatoes in a medium bowl. Squeeze the juice of one lemon over the top and add in the olive oil. Combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Easy Peasy!

And here’s the final plate. Yes, my food photography skills need work, but what can I say. My studio has been taken over by small aliens. Wait, those are my kids.

This was delicious and easy to make. And best of all, the kids loved it. Even Andrew (my one year old) downed a kid sized portion like it was candy. So let’s get on with it. Here’s what you’ll need to make this dish:

First off, the marinade for the fish (yes I forgot to add the sugar to this picture. It’s a fault of having two small children running around my feet and one wheeling around in his walker while I attempt to make dinner and subsequently take pictures of it):

Combine the soy sauce, sherry, sugar, ginger, and garlic. Pour the mixture over the fish and let it marinate in the fridge for 2 hours or more.

Now for the mango salsa. I need to add, that the hot pepper and the hot sauce is an optional addition. I didn’t use them this time around mainly because of my three kids who aren’t big fans of spicy foods. If you do decide to use them, they can be added to the top of the fish before cooking; as much or as little as you’d like in spiciness. Ok, here we go with the salsa.

Combine the Mango, bell pepper, onions, cilantro and jalapeno. Stir in the garlic powder, lime juice, salt, and pepper. Place salsa in fridge for 1 hour to give flavors a chance to meld. Heat a large skillet with 2 Tbsp of butter on medium high heat. Add Mahi Mahi to the skillet and squirt with lemon over the top of the fillets. Cook through, flipping once; about 7-9 minutes. Serve hot with Mango salsa on top. Yummy!

So here’s the final meal. I served it up with blue cheesy rice and buttered broccoli as side. Happy Eating!

Here we go! It was another long day with the three amigo’s so on the menu last night was homemade pizza with any toppings I could find in the fridge. I managed to track down Trader Joe’s crust, Mozzarella cheese, spinach, onions, leftover teriyaki chicken from the previous night’s dinner and blue cheese. The tomato sauce was used to make some quick pizza sauce.

For the pizza sauce I mixed together one clove of garlic, one tsp basil, one tsp oregano and a can of tomato sauce. Nothing fancy, but for a quick week night pizza, it does the job. And speaking of garlic and basil, if you haven’t discovered Dorat (the red and white containers shown below) you need too! They are frozen versions of some of the more common spices such as fresh basil, cilantro, and garlic. One cube equals either a teaspoon or if you’re using garlic, one clove.

Anyway, back to the pie. After chopping, dicing, mixing, and dough flattening, the pizza is assembled.

And into the oven we go at 450 degrees. It usually takes about 7-9 minutes, but I had a small distraction up in the boys bathtub while it was cooking (don’t ask) so it went a couple minutes longer than I had planned. No harm no foul – it was a bit darker than I had hoped but still delish. The final product. 🙂